Starring

A port city built on the hillier side of Starling Bay. It thrives on trade between Merringe, Oxos, and the greater maritime world, and is sometimes referred to as the Turspan Gateway by foreigners who cannot pronounce Starring. Trade ships here are protected from the pirate menace by the Starling Fleet of galleys manned by seasoned marines.   Starring is ruled by King Yolos Jennkins the Bold and Queen Onna the Beautiful, a powerful couple who have in their decade of rule curtailed the power of the merchant class and raised that of the military. While some disagree with their policies, it cannot be denied that piracy and other criminal activity is at an all-time low in the city’s short history. They reside in Luminion Castle at the top of the highest hill, which features a great cliff lined with battlements.   Starring enjoys friendly relations with most other nations, on account of their diplomatic trade arrangements. For this reason, ships can be booked from Starring to nearly everywhere the Golden Ocean touches, for a price. All manner of goods can be bought here, but high demand makes the exotic very expensive.   Obviously, Staring does not enjoy friendly relations with the Pirate Republic of Maxos, located within the Golden Ocean. The waters and islands surrounding it are hotbeds of conflict, so a safe traveler would do well to avoid them.  

History of Starring

  Despite its influence on the rest of the Slightlands' trade from its position at the mouth of the Zoephis river (the largest river in the world), Starring is remarkably new as an independent city-state. While generations of the shorter-lived races have now grown up with it as an independent state, it was only sixty-nine years ago that it declared independence from the Empire of Ryde, two years prior to Ryde's sudden disappearance. Prior to its independence, the city was called Fort Zoephis, for its defensible position upon a hilltop adjacent to the Zoephis river.   Little is known about Starring prior to Ryde's ownership of the fortress-city. While it's apparent by some ancient ruins beneath the city's surface that there was a prior civilization, Fort Zoephis was a vital port for Ryde. Consequently, Ryde had a tight grip over the city, and have long since erased whatever original culture and history there once was. If that information exists anywhere, it is within the faraway archives of Oxos.   In the decade prior to Starring's independence, the city and its surrounding areas saw a drastic decrease in population, as slaves were taken from the city in droves, never to be seen again. This pattern follows across the rest of the coastal cities of the Ryde Empire, and may be connected to the nigh-total depletion of the Gulf of Shattered Dreams' cities' population, which began decreasing a few years before. The first honorary king of Starring was an officer stationed in Fort Zoephis, a former slave soldier from named Li Jennkins. One night, he received a vision- One that some say was granted by the lost souls stolen from the city by Ryde. He rallied the people of Fort Zoephis, the slave soldiers, and his fellow officers within the Chamber of Insurrection, and began the rebellion by assassinating the commander in charge of the fort, Gyadyne, in a legendary duel taking place upon the now-collapsed Aegis Bridge. He proclaimed the city to now be Starring, for the ring of seven falling stars upon which the people of Fort Zoephis wished for freedom that passed overhead.   Though the declaration was met with great applause from the newly liberated city and its warriors fought fiercely to defend it, the realities of fighting a war against the greatest empire on this side of the world soon set in. While the city's incredible defensive positioning afforded it the means to survive the siege by Ryde's forces, it was besieged for a long three years before the collapse of Ryde's supply lines granted it blessed relief. Soon after the war began, the hero-king Li was trapped upon the great cliff-fortress across the Aegis Bridge when the bridge was destroyed by Ryde's explosive bombardment. Trapped with no supplies, Li and his elite guard and all of the soldiers with them were never seen from again.   The burden of leadership was thrust upon Li's young son, Roi. Though he was only a teen at the time, Roi proved to be an able strategist. He went on to rule with brutal efficiency, but never compromised on the ideals that his father had left him. Due to his rationing and strategic command, the fledgling Starring was able to outlast Ryde, and even accepted many of its besiegers into its own forces upon their surrender. Roi ruled for 55 years thereafter, perishing only recently in 56 AR, under suspicious circumstances. His 28 year old son, Yolos, now rules in his stead. Roi's policies set up Starring to be the next great maritime power after Ryde's fall. He made trade deals with other remnant states, reconstructed the damaged parts of the city and surrounding area, created a disciplined and loyal military, and established the Edict of Emancipation, which continues to defend the rights of would-be slaves to this day, enforced by powerful divination magic. His son, though not possessed of his father's strategic mind, has thus far earnestly endeavored to follow in his footsteps.